Jackass (TV series)
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| Jackass | |
|---|---|
 Jackass warning screen |
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| Genre | comedy / Reality-TV |
| Creator(s) | Johnny Knoxville Spike Jonze Jeff Tremaine |
| Starring | Johnny Knoxville Bam Margera Steve-O Chris Pontius Ryan Dunn Brandon DiCamillo Ehren McGhehey Dave England Preston Lacy Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña |
| No. of episodes | 25 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22–23 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | MTV |
| Original run | October 1, 2000 – February 17, 2002 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Jackass is an American television series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, ridiculous, and self-injuring stunts and pranks. The show served as a launchpad for the television and acting careers of Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera. Since 2002, two Jackass theatrical films have been produced and released by Paramount Pictures, continuing the franchise after its run on television.
Contents |
[edit] History
The show developed from Big Brother Magazine, a skateboarding-related humor magazine that Jeff Tremaine, Dave Carnie, Rick Kosick and Chris Pontius all worked for, and featured regular contributions from Johnny Knoxville and Dave England, amongst others. The concept of Jackass dates back to 1999 when struggling-actor-turned-writer Johnny Knoxville birthed the idea to test different self defense devices on himself as the basis for an article. He pitched the idea to a couple of magazines and was turned down until meeting with Jeff Tremaine of Big Brother. Jeff hired him as journalist and convinced Johnny to videotape this idea and other stunts for stories. The footage, which involved Knoxville being tasered, maced, and ultimately shot while wearing a bulletproof vest, appeared in the second Big Brother skateboarding movie Number Two. Johnny quickly became a hit.
Big Brother would go on road trips, which is believed to be where Johnny met Bam Margera and they became good friends. In addition to skateboarding, Bam Margera had recently released a movie entitled Landspeed:CKY which consisted of himself and his friends in West Chester, Pennsylvania perfoming various skits and stunts. Jeff Tremaine saw the tapes and drafted Bam and his crew into what would become the cast of Jackass.
[edit] Cast
Though the cast members were often classified as a troupe, in reality a lot of filming was done separately by different groups. The main groups were the Los Angeles faction of Knoxville, Pontius, Steve-O, Preston Lacy and Wee Man and the CKY crew from West Chester, PA including Margera, DiCamillo, Dunn, Rake and Raab Himself. England and McGhehey also operated autonomously, filming in Oregon.
[edit] Main cast
- Johnny Knoxville
- Bam Margera
- Chris Pontius
- Dave England
- Steve-O
- Ryan Dunn
- Brandon DiCamillo
- Ehren McGhehey
- Preston Lacy
- Jason "Wee Man" Acuña
[edit] Other cast and crew
- Rake Yohn (Theodore Webb)
- Jeff Tremaine - creator and director
- Chris Raab, aka Raab Himself
- Spike Jonze - creator
- Dimitry Elyashkevich - main producer and cameraman
- Phil and April Margera - Bam's parents and, more often than not, stunt victims
- Jess Margera - Bam's older brother
- Vincent "Don Vito" Margera - Bam's Uncle
- Manny Puig - animal wrangler
- Lance Bangs - cameraman/vegetarian
- Rick Kosick - main cameraman
- Knate Gwaltney - cameraman
- Greg "Guch" Iguchi - cameraman
- Sean Cliver - one of the show's producers
- Mike Kassak
- J2 (Jason Raumus)
- Stephanie Hodge - only female Jackass star; left the cast after being severely injured during a skit
- Loomis Fall
[edit] Celebrity appearances
- Tony Hawk - pro skateboarder; performed 'the loop' with Bam Margera
- Mat Hoffman
- Brad Pitt - participated in the "Abduction" and "Night Monkey 2" skits
- Shaquille O'Neal - participated in one skit, in which he dry-humped Wee Man and Steve-O during the filming of a music video
- CKY - Drummer Jess Margera appears in several episodes. Jess and Deron Miller wake Phil up in the "heavy metal alarm clock" segment.
- Fatlip - slid down an escalator
- Ruby Wax and Maximillion Cooper - Gumball Rally special
- Puff Daddy - slapped Bam and performed the "I'm Johnny Knoxville, welcome to Jackass" intro
- Quinton Jackson - gave fighting tips to Ryan Dunn in a skit where Dunn eventually lost the fight after almost getting knocked out
- Daewon Song - In the "carpet skating" segment.
- Tre Cool - Came to the Jackass barbecue
[edit] Controversy
Since the first episode, Jackass frequently featured warnings and disclaimers noting that the stunts performed were dangerous and should not be imitated, and that recordings of any stunts would not be aired on MTV. Such warnings not only appeared before and after each program, but also in a "crawl" ran along some especially risky stunts. Nevertheless, the program has been blamed for a number of deaths and injuries involving teens and children imitating the stunts.
On January 29, 2001, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut) publicly condemned MTV and Jackass in connection with a dangerous stunt that led to a copycat incident in which a 13-year-old Connecticut teenager was left in critical condition with severe burns. Lieberman followed up with a February 7, 2001 letter to MTV's parent company Viacom urging the company to take greater responsibility for its programming and do more to help parents protect their children. MTV responded to the criticism by canceling all airings of Jackass before 10:00 PM, but Lieberman's continual campaign against the show led to MTV refusing to air repeats of the later episodes, a move which angered the cast and production crew of the series who were furious with MTV's "caving into Lieberman's demands."[citation needed]
A man named Jack Ass sued MTV for $10 million, claiming the series was plagiarizing his name. Jack Ass, formerly known as Bob Craft, changed his name in 1997 to raise awareness for drunk driving, after his brother and friend were killed in a vehicle accident.[1]
[edit] Ending and farewell
In a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Johnny Knoxville announced that the show would end after its third season aired so as to allow the show to end on a high note. He also stated discontent at MTV and the censors, who, from the start of season two, began to hound the show's producers with notes regarding what the show could and could not depict. When the third season ended in 2002, MTV (who owns the rights to the name "Jackass") contemplated keeping the show going with a new cast of characters (even running a teaser for the show's return during the 2002 VMA Awards Show) before opting to let the show die. Because of problems with MTV's standards and practices department as well as the sudden departure of Bam Margera and his group halfway through season three, the Jackass crew did not attempt to create a finale to bring the show to a close.
MTV released a DVD box set in December of 2005. The box set included the three Jackass DVD volumes (which were not composed of all 3 entire seasons, but just 1:30-2:00 highlights of each season), a bonus disc that included the crew's trip to Gumball 3000, a "Where Are They Now" documentary, MTV Cribs Jackass Edition, and TV spots, and 48-page book of photos and inside stories.
[edit] Jackass: The Movie
After the show went off the air, the cast reunited in 2002 to film a full-length motion picture version of the show entitled Jackass: The Movie. The cast made it clear that the film was their "farewell" to the fans of the show and the movie format allowed the cast to circumvent the censors. Interestingly, MTV Films assisted in the movie's distribution.
The movie, filmed on a budget of just $5 million, went on to gross over $60 million in the United States alone, and finished in the number 1 spot at the box office during its debut weekend.
[edit] Jackass: Number Two
Jackass: Number Two was released on September 22, 2006, produced by MTV Films and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
The bulk of the original cast returned for the sequel. The trailer can be seen at the Jackass movie web site. Footage for several stunts featured Bam Margera's uncle Vincent "Don Vito" Margera, but the footage was removed from the theatrical release due to his arrest in August 2006 and the nature of the charges.
As was the case with its predecessor, Jackass: Number Two topped the box office in its debut weekend, earning $29.01 million.
[edit] Jackass: The Game
Jackass: The Game is being developed under license by Sidhe Interactive in Wellington, New Zealand. At this stage there are few details, even the platform or platforms for the game have not been disclosed. The game has been in development for some time and was shown at E3 in 2006 [2]. It is mentioned in the Jackass: Number Two commentary that the stunt where several members get punched in the face by a spring loaded boxing glove hidden behind a fake valentine on a wall had just come upstairs from shooting a promo for the video game.
[edit] Side projects
Johnny Knoxville has pursued a career as an actor, appearing in such films as the 2004 remake of Walking Tall, The Dukes of Hazzard, Men in Black II, The Ringer, A Dirty Shame and Big Trouble.
Bam Margera and the CKY crew were given their own spin-off show Viva La Bam, which follows Margera and his family, who are often made the victim of the clique's practical jokes. Bam and the crew also have Radio Bam on Sirius radio. Ryan Dunn, who is part of Bam's crew on Viva La Bam, was given his own show Homewrecker, in which he finds revenge for helpless victims of practical jokes by renovating the prankster's room according to the original incident. Margera has also been featured in Bam's Unholy Union, following him and his fiance Missy in the run-up to their wedding, while Brandon DiCamillo and Rake Yohn featured in Blastazoid, a short-lived show about video games.
Chris Pontius and Steve-O were also given their own spin-off show Wildboyz. Unlike Jackass and Viva La Bam, Wildboyz rejected the formula of practical jokes and instead features the two traveling the world in search of wild and exotic animals. Wildboys featured frequent guest appearances by fellow Jackasses Johnny Knoxville, Manny Puig, and Jason "Wee Man" Acuña.
[edit] Possible return
On September 7, 2006, MTV featured a half hour documentary on the making of Jackass: Number Two. As the piece concludes, Johnny Knoxville starts to become "depressed" because he is "so hooked on doing stunts." Additionally, the other cast members talk of how Johnny was putting so much on the line for this movie.
After the last day of filming, the documentary goes two weeks ahead where Johnny tells the camera that Jeff Tremaine has agreed to let the Jackass crew film some newer material in November (presumably of 2006). Also, as Knoxville is driving away in his car, he is heard exclaiming, "The show ain't over yet buddy!" which fans speculate could be hinting at the long-awaited return of Jackass to MTV. Bam Margera muttered "Please, please, please God; Don't let there be a Jackass 3!"
It has been rumored that a third Jackass film has been ordered by Paramount, as well as a direct to DVD project, called Jackass Number 2.5, made up of the deleted footage from Jackass Number Two, as well as additional material shot in November 2006. This has yet to be confirmed by any of the cast or crew. The cast joked about a third Jackass movie in the DVD commentary for Number Two, but it is done mockingly, possibly due to the incessant questions to the cast about a third movie.
[edit] Similar groups
Various groups have created shows based on or similar to Jackass. These include:
- Extreme Duudsonit AKA The Dudesons
- Dirty Sanchez AKA Team Sanchez
- Tokyo Shock Boys
- Crazy Monkey
[edit] Theme music
- The show's theme music was a portion of Corona by The Minutemen, originally recorded in 1984.
[edit] External links
| Jackass |
|---|
| Main Cast |
| Johnny Knoxville | Bam Margera | Steve-O | Chris Pontius | Ryan Dunn | Jason "Wee Man" Acuña | Preston Lacy | Dave England | Ehren McGhehey |
| Supporting Cast |
| Brandon DiCamillo | Theodore "Rake Yohn" Webb | Chris "Raab Himself" Raab | Phil Margera | April Margera | Manny Puig |
| Crew |
| Jeff Tremaine | Spike Jonze | Dimitry Elyashkevich | Rick Kosick | Lance Bangs |
| Television shows |
| Jackass | Wildboyz | Viva La Bam | Homewrecker | Bam's Unholy Union |
| Films |
| Jackass: The Movie (stunts) | Jackass Number Two (stunts) |
| Miscellaneous |
| Big Brother | Corona | Jackass: The Game | CKY Crew | CKY Videos | Gnarkill | Radio Bam | Haggard: The Movie |
